Pentagon: Combat will open to women

Sgt. Vanessa Jones and her Female Engagement Team on patrol with infantrymen in Marjah, Afghanistan in 2010. The Corps is considering whether women should be allowed to serve as riflemen.
— Nelvin C. Cepeda / Photo by Nelvin C. Cepeda, San U

Sgt. Vanessa Jones and her Female Engagement Team on patrol with infantrymen in Marjah, Afghanistan in 2010. The Corps is considering whether women should be allowed to serve as riflemen.
— Nelvin C. Cepeda / Photo by Nelvin C. Cepeda, San U

The Pentagon is lifting its ban on women serving in combat, opening more than 200,000 front-line military positions to American women for the first time, possibly even elite special-operations jobs such as Navy SEALs.

The changes, set to be announced today by Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, will not happen overnight.

The services must now develop plans for allowing women to seek the combat positions, a senior military official told The Associated Press.

Some jobs may open as soon as this year, while assessments for others, such as special operations forces, including SEALs and the Army’s Delta Force, may take longer.

The services will have until January 2016 to make a case that some positions should remain closed to women.

Reaction from Marine and Navy veterans around San Diego was mixed.

Some male combat veterans say that women have earned the right to fight. Others agree but at the same time voice concerns that inserting women into small tight-knit units could lead to problems.

“There’s capability clearly held by many women to do — physically and mentally — anything required in combat. Their loyalty and commitment are already proven,” said Jack Harkins, a Marine Corps combat veteran from Vietnam and chairman of the United Veterans Council of San Diego County.

Women comprise about 14 percent of the 1.4 million active military personnel. More than 280,000 women have been sent to Iraq, Afghanistan or to jobs in neighboring nations in support of the wars. Of the more than 6,600 who have been killed, 152 have been women.

This groundbreaking move to officially open more jobs to women overturns a 1994 rule prohibiting females from being assigned to smaller ground combat units.

The SEAL community, headquartered at the Naval Special Warfare Command in Coronado, is the last all-male part of the Navy, after submarine jobs were opened to women in 2010. In the Marines, infantry and reconnaissance jobs have been all-male.

Former Navy SEAL Brandon Webb said women are more than physically capable of doing special operations work, adding that elite units such as the Navy SEALs are more about mental tenacity than physical prowess.

“I had Olympic athletes in my class who could do amazing things physically. But they didn’t like the cold water and they quit because they weren’t mentally tough enough," he said.

But Webb, 38, said he thinks it will be disruptive to put women and men together in small, tight-knit units — which is how special operators usually work.

“If you have a six-person team and most of the guys are single, and you have a single female in the mix — chances are you are going to establish close relationships. And that can impair judgment. It’s like having your girlfriend in the field with you. Your decision-making becomes completely different.”

Former Navy SEAL and San Diego entrepreneur Brent Gleeson said that any woman who tries to join the elite ranks will have obstacles to overcome outside of the physical requirements.

“It’s going to be a major cultural challenge on both sides, for women to be able to become part of this culture and for men to accept it as a new reality,” said Gleeson, 36, adding, “I don’t think there will be a big influx of women trying out.”